I am running xampp on windows XP.After installation, the my.ini and my.cnf files contained a line:datadir=C:/server/xampp/xampp/mysql/data I moved my data files and changed the datadir line in all my .ini and .cnf files to point to a location on my F: drive.However, MySql continues to use C:/server/xampp/xampp/mysql/data as the datadir location

I scanned every file on my C: drive and verified that 'C:/server/xampp/xampp/mysql/data' is never assigned to the datadir variable.

Starting and stopping the MySQL server does not help.Rebooting does not help.Reinstalling xampp does not help.

My question: where is MySql getting the incorrect (original) vlaue for this variable?Thank you

Thanks, but as I said, EVERY file on the C: drive was checked and NONE of them assigned datadir with the value it is getting. ALL cnf files (Windows hides the extension) and the mysql.ini file pointed to the F: drive.

I finally found the solution. I put the files ib_logfile0, ib_logfile1, ibdata, lap1.err and lap1.pid back in the original data directory, and and removed them from the data directory on the F: drive. Only the actual database directories and files were moved. Now the datadir assignment in the .cnf file works properly.